Cal closed the Pac-12 regular season with a 74-70 loss at Arizona State, dropping the Golden Bears into Wednesday’s 12:10 p.m. game at the conference tournament.

The Bears (17-14, 7-11) will be seeded No. 8 and face No. 9 Washington State in the Pac-12 tournament opening game. Cal and WSU split their two regular-season games, each winning on the other team’s floor.

If Cal beats the Cougars, it will advance to the quarterfinals to face top-seeded, regular-season champion Arizona on Thursday at 12:10 p.m.

Cal started fast against ASU, fell behind, then could not close out a late rally.

“We gave ourselves a chance,” coach Cuonzo Martin said. “We just came up short.”

The Bears have dropped four of their past five games.

Tyrone Wallace had 23 points and six rebounds for the Bears, Jabari Bird scored 13, and Jordan Mathews and Sam Singer had 11 apiece.

Cal led 9-0 early and made eight of its first 10 shots. But the Bears converted just two of 20 shots after that before making one in the final 37 seconds of the half. Then they missed their first six free throws of the second half, eventually finishing at 8 for 15 for the game.

Down 63-53 with 6 1/2 minutes to go, the Bears got within striking distance but Mathews missed a late 3-pointer that could have tied the game.

Senior guard Brittany Boyd had 20 points and 11 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season and the fourth-seeded Golden Bears (22-8, 13-5) beat No. 5 Washington 69-53 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament at Seattle.

Cal will play Saturday in the semifinals against No. 9 Colorado, which upset top-seeded Oregon State 68-65. It’s potentially a break for the Bears, who easily beat Colorado 75-59 this season, but lost 73-55 at Oregon State just last week.

The Bears and Buffaloes tip off at 8:30 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.

It’s the eighth time in nine years the Bears have reached the semifinals of the conference tournament.

The Pac-12 regular season ends Saturday with Cal testing itself against Shaqielle McKissick and Arizona State’s “Curtain of Distraction.”

The Bears (17-13, 7-10) sit in a tie for eighth place with Colorado after their 39-point shellacking at the hands of regular-season champion and fifth-ranked Arizona.

Here’s what we really want to know: Where will the Bears be seeded for next week’s Pac-12 tournament at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas?

There are three scenarios that could play out:

* If the Bears beat ASU, they will be the No. 6 seed – regardless of what else happens – and play No. 11 Washington on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.

* If Cal loses to ASU and Washington State beats Colorado, the Bears are the No. 8 seed and play No. 9 WSU on Wednesday at noon.

* If Cal loses to ASU and Colorado beats Washington State, the Bears are the No. 9 seed and play No. 8 Colorado on Wednesday at noon.

The Bears have lost their past four meetings with the Sun Devils (16-14, 8-9), including a lopsided 79-44 loss in Berkeley back on Jan. 22.

“We didn’t play well. We didn’t play hard, we didn’t compete on either end of the floor. It was a bad game for us. Those are the ones you learn from.”

ASU is coming off a 67-62 win over Stanford in which McKissick scored 23 points. The 6-5 senior guard is the leading scorer (11.5 ppg) for the Sun Devils. who have won four of their past six games.

The Bears also face the “Curtain of Distraction,” in which creative ASU students attempt to throw off the concentration of opposing foul shooters at one end of the court.

“If you’re focused, it doesn’t really matter what they do behind the basket,” Cal guard Jordan Mathews said. ”You’ve just got to dial in and knock down your free throws, play like you always have. It’s part of the game.”

Cal closes the Pac-12 regular season Saturday at Arizona State, which handed the Bears a decisive 79-44 in Berkeley on Jan. 22.

Tyrone Wallace led the Bears with 16 points, but had just two until the final 2 minutes of the first half, by which time Arizona led 43-24. Reserve guard Sam Singer scored 13 points while David Kravish and Jabari Bird had 10 points each. Christian Behrens had 10 rebounds.

East Bay product Brandon Ashley equaled his career high with 21 points for Arizona, which had six players in double figures and shot 57 percent.

A preview of Cal’s trip to Seattle for the Pac-12 women’s tournament, courtesy of staff wrier Elliott Almond:

CAL PAC-12 TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

RECORD: 21-8 overall, 13-5 in Pac-12. Tied for third with Stanford.

NEXT OPPONENT: Quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday night’s first-round game between fifth-seeded Washington and No. 12 Utah.

CAL UPDATE: The fourth-seeded Golden Bears have one of the conference’s best teams, led by All-Pac-12 seniors Reshanda Gray (Pac-12 player of the year) and Brittany Boyd (Naismith Award semifinalist). Also, Mikayla Cowling and Gabby Green were named to the all-Pac-12 freshman team. Cal, though, might have two big hurdles to reach the championship Sunday in Seattle. It possibly could play hometown favorite Washington (22-8) and then top-seeded Oregon State, which defeated the Bears 73-55 in the regular-season finale last weekend. “Overall, our program is at the point where we want to win championships,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “So there is a little disappointment” in tying for third in the regular-season standings.

However, Gottlieb said the competitive Pac-12 campaign prepared Cal for the postseason. “We have a team when things are clicking we can be really good,” she said. “This could be one of our best March runs.”

He has reasons to feel that way. Cal beat No. 1 Arizona 60-58 in Berkeley last year and is the team that most recently knocked off the Wildcats at McKale Center. That was a 77-69 win on Feb. 10, 2013 in which Wallace had five points, four rebounds and seven assists as a freshman and David Kravish contributed eight points and six rebounds.

Since then, Arizona has won 36 consecutive games, the longest active home-court win streak in the nation. The Cats are 78-6 in Tucson since the start of the 2010-11 season, and Cal is 8-83 all-time vs. teams ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll.

Cal senior point guard Brittany Boyd has been named one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy National Women’s College Player of the Year honor.

Boyd is the only Pac-12 player and the only player west of Texas to be selected as a semifinalist for the award, given to the top player in the country. The four finalists will be unveiled on Friday, March 20, and the winner will be announced on Monday, April 6.

The Berkeley High grad is averaging 13.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 3.0 steals. She is the nation’s only player with two triple-doubles, she ranks seventh nationally in assists and is the NCAA active leader with 353 steals. Her 19 rebounds against Sacramento State are the most by a guard from a “power five conference.”

Boyd is the only active NCAA player — and the only player in Pac-12 history — to compile career totals of at least 1,400 points, 700 rebounds, 600 assists and 300 steals.